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    3ABCT mobilizes equipment for NTC

    3ABCT mobilizes equipment for NTC

    Photo By Capt. Scott Walters | Soldiers from 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, secure a Paladin...... read more read more

    FORT CARSON, CO, UNITED STATES

    08.09.2016

    Story by Capt. Scott Walters 

    3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

    FORT CARSON, Colorado – After spending a few weeks in the field last month conducting combined-arms maneuvers during Iron Strike 16, the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, is on the move again.

    This time the Iron Brigade is heading to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, for another full-scale training exercise. The rotation will test nearly 4,000 of its Soldiers and supporting units from across the Army in a decisive-action combat scenario against near-peer conventional and guerilla forces.

    The brigade sent its first group of about 300 Soldiers to the NTC on Tuesday as a “torch” party to prepare the way for the rest of its forces, which are departing over the next week.

    Spc. Andre Sanchez, M1 armor crewman, Company A, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, was part of that first group and will help offload vehicles once they arrive at NTC.

    “I’m pretty excited, I’m excited to see what this unit can do. Being on the torch party, this responsibility gives me a sense of pride because I’ll be able to help receive the brigade as it comes in and set the foundation for our rotation,” said Sanchez, an Abrams loader who is making his third trip to NTC in five years.

    Led by the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, Soldiers from across the Iron Brigade spent this week at the Fort Carson railhead loading onto rail cars about 1,200 vehicles, including Abrams main battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Paladin mobile artillery. Other equipment also was being moved by flat-bed trucks via line haul.

    “For our Soldiers, this is another opportunity to hone our skills to be able to package our equipment, get our personnel ready to go, get loaded up, and get ready to move forward for any mission we are called to do,” said Lt. Col. John Gilliam, commander, 1-66th Armor Regt.

    At the railhead, Soldiers first staged vehicles at the post’s Bronco yard – one train load’s worth each day – then moved to the rail spurs to guide tanks, other tracked equipment and support vehicles like fuel tankers and Humvees to be secured onto rail cars.

    1st Lt. Ken Kloeppel, a unit movement officer with 1-66th Armor Regt. who was placed in charge of railhead operations, said efforts to load the trains each day were going smoothly.

    “Everyone, regardless of what battery, troop or company they come from, has really focused on being part of a brigade effort to expedite the process to load up the trains,” he said. “It’s great to see everyone focus on being the Iron Brigade and working with a single purpose to load all this equipment.”

    The rail-load operations, the second such mass movement of the entire brigade in the past month, demonstrated 3rd Brigade’s ability to mobilize quickly, said Gilliam.

    He noted that the NTC load-up this week followed the Iron Brigade’s movement in July of 3,000 Soldiers and about 1,000 pieces of equipment to various locations throughout the Fort Carson training area during Iron Strike. That three-week exercise saw each of the unit’s seven battalions “jump” tactical operations on multiple occasions.

    Following the Iron Strike field exercise, which was an immersive home-station test of synchronized offensive and defensive maneuvers, the NTC rotation now serves as final validation that 3rd Brigade is prepared for full-spectrum operations anywhere in the world.

    “When we get to the National Training Center, which is the premiere training facility for the United States Army, we’ll get to test our mettle against a very skilled opposition force,” Gilliam said.

    “During our rotation, we’ll still see some of the same irregular forces that we’ve battled in Iraq and Afghanistan. But in general, we’re fighting this high-intensity threat – tanks and mechanized warfare – which is something as a heavy force that we’re recalibrating ourselves to fight as a different threat,” he said.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.09.2016
    Date Posted: 08.10.2016 21:27
    Story ID: 206759
    Location: FORT CARSON, CO, US

    Web Views: 144
    Downloads: 1

    PUBLIC DOMAIN